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Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I have mentioned (and used) the TOPS system, our state’s online checkbook register, multiple times. It’s a great way to see who our state is paying and for what. I noticed recently (within the last 6 months) that the people who run it made it significantly harder to use: I’m not sure why, but at some point they made it so you can only go month by month.** I had a reader kindly volunteer his time and skill at computer programming to come up with a way to automate TOPS searches so I, and now you since the program is public, don’t have to click and wait month by month to find what we need. The program this person came up with lives online and is linked first below. They titled it a TOPS scraper. It’s pretty i...
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$46.8 Billion Colorado Budget Reflects Rising Medicaid Costs and Hard Choices
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The Gazette, Approved, State

$46.8 Billion Colorado Budget Reflects Rising Medicaid Costs and Hard Choices

By Marianne Goodland | The Gazette The six-member panel of legislators in charge of crafting the state budget has now turned over its plan to the Colorado legislature, proposing to spend $1.5 billion more for the Medicaid program. The increase is driven by Medicaid costs, which forced the Joint Budget Committee to make cuts elsewhere. All told, House Bill 26-1410 proposes a state budget of $46.8 billion, with $17.3 billion coming from general funds, the revenue largely from corporate and individual income taxes, as well as from sales and use taxes. Notably, that general fund amount is 1.4% higher than the $17.1 billion in the 2025-26 budget. The 2025-26 budget, as approved by lawmakers a year ago, stood at $43.9 billion. It has changed significantly since...
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Colorado Bill Could Undermine TABOR Protections Redirecting Billions Away From Taxpayers
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Bill Could Undermine TABOR Protections Redirecting Billions Away From Taxpayers

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Senate Bill 135, legislation that could permanently end the refund of overcollected tax dollars, as well as radically raise revenue limits under Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) amendment, just received a new fiscal note predicting an even bigger blank check for the legislature than before.  This follows the updated revenue forecast presented to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC).  Let’s see what changed.  Budget hole gets bigger Legislative analysts predict that this year’s “budget shortfall” will be approximately $1.5 billion, based on the March 2026 Economic and Revenue Forecast.   While that means a haircut to General F...
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Colorado Lawmakers Advance Painful Budget Cuts Amid Billion Dollar Shortfall
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Advance Painful Budget Cuts Amid Billion Dollar Shortfall

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette The panel of Colorado legislators in charge of crafting next year’s budget has finalized the 2026–27 spending plan built on deep cuts and one‑time cash transfers in an attempt to close a shortfall of more than $1.2 billion. The plan is leaving lawmakers frustrated with the reductions to core services. Some cited cuts to health care programs for children and families, though others argued the spending plan “protects what matters most.” That $1.2 billion figure comes from the governor’s economic forecast. The legislature’s economists, however, warned of an even bigger deficit at around $1.5 billion. A combination of factors have led to Colorado’s budget woes. Democrats have pointed to the congressional budget approved last...
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Colorado Legislative Malpractice
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Legislative Malpractice

By Michael Hancock | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When Ideology Replaces Stewardship, the Patient Doesn’t Recover — It Declines There is a reason malpractice carries such moral weight in medicine. A physician is entrusted with the care of a patient. When that trust is violated—through negligence, arrogance, or ideological blindness—the consequences are not abstract. They are physical, measurable, and often irreversible. What we are witnessing in Colorado today is a different form of malpractice. Not medical, but legislative. The patient is the state itself—its economy, its infrastructure, its fiscal health, and ultimately, its people. And the pattern is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: policies enacted not in service of long-term stability, but i...
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Colorado Budget Shortfall Sparks Questions Over Spending Priorities
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Shortfall Sparks Questions Over Spending Priorities

By Rep. Scott Bottoms | Commentary, Complete Colorado The Colorado House of Representatives recently received the unwelcome news that the state faces a $1.5 billion shortfall as they craft the state’s budget for fiscal year 2026-27. This troubling development comes on top of last year’s $750 million deficit. The shortfalls are odd because overall government spending has increased dramatically: since 2019 (the year Democrats took over the House, Senate, and governor’s office), Colorado’s population has increased by 4.4%, while at the same time, the state’s annual budget has increased by 43.6% (roughly 10 times the rate of population growth). Think about that. Fiscal malpractice In the midst of these fiscal straits, you’d think legislators...
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As climate costs rise, will Colorado follow New York’s “breathing room” playbook?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

As climate costs rise, will Colorado follow New York’s “breathing room” playbook?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project NY’s narrative on “breathing room” for climate mandates here in Colorado? I got the issue of Sarah Montalbano's energy newsletter about a week ago.** In it, Ms. Montalbano details how New York Governor Hochul recently mentioned how that state needs some "breathing room" on its self-imposed climate mandates. This is a site/newsletter dedicated to Colorado issues, so I will leave the rest of her newsletter there, save for one quote which will be relevant for us here. Quoting with links left intact: "Hochul blamed factors such as a 'global pandemic,' and 'some of the highest inflation we had seen in years,' for rattling supply chains, as well as a 'hostile' administration in Washington eli...
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Colorado Medicaid Chief Resigns Amid Bipartisan Outcry Over Costs And Mismanagement
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Medicaid Chief Resigns Amid Bipartisan Outcry Over Costs And Mismanagement

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Colorado’s top Medicaid official stepped down on Monday, just as a bipartisan bloc of state senators prepared to formally urge Gov. Jared Polis to remove her over what they called years of mismanagement, waste and costly errors inside the state’s largest agency. One legislator seeking the resignation of Kim Bimestefer, executive direct or of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, called the leadership change a “necessary step toward accountability.” Bimestefer had been under fire from critics, who questioned how health officials have remained in their roles amid what they described as mismanagement at the state Medicaid program, which is beset by allegations of fraud, abuse and runaway spending. The program’...
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Colorado Progressives Blame TABOR For $1.5B Budget Gap While Expanding Costly Tax Credits
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Progressives Blame TABOR For $1.5B Budget Gap While Expanding Costly Tax Credits

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Karl Marx, co-author of The Communist Manifesto, once wrote “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.” We’re watching a version of this play out at the Colorado State Capitol. Like thousands of enlightened technocrats who came before them, Colorado’s progressive legislators believe that they are uniquely endowed to once and for all fix structural flaws in the state’s budget and finally bring “fairness” and “equality” to Colorado.  If they could only eliminate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR, heavily tax the rich, and preserve their preferred special interest tax breaks, then Colorado would have heaven on Earth.  Really, this farcical display will only serve to destroy Co...
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HB26-1240: Colorado Democrats Expand Tax Giveaways—and Eat Your TABOR Refund
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

HB26-1240: Colorado Democrats Expand Tax Giveaways—and Eat Your TABOR Refund

Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project HB26-1240 (linked first below) is a great example of tax policy which mimics a dynamic I have seen with other policy such as gun control. Rather than taking all in one big shot, something that would get all kinds of undue attention, you take in a piecewise manner. E.g. in year 1 you get red flag laws passed, but they’re limited so as to not cause too much heartburn. When that settles down, you can then spend subsequent years making additions to that first law. In the case of HB26-1240, you start by offering expanded tax credits to people and then you expand the credits further. In order to fully appreciate what I mean, we have to do some background first. Colorado’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is another ...
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